Miguel de la Torre

Miguel de la Torre (13 December 1786-1843) was Captain-General of Venezuela from 1820 to 1822, succeeding Pablo Morillo and preceding Francisco Tomas Morales, and Governor of Puerto Rico from 1822 to 1837, succeeding Francisco Gonzalez Linares and preceding Francisco Javier de Moreda y Prieto.

Biography
Miguel de la Torre was born in Bernales, Basque Country, Spain in 1786, and he joined the Spanish Army at the age of fourteen. He fought well during the Peninsular War, reaching the rank of colonel in 1814, and he was assigned to Pablo Morillo's expedition to the Americas a year later. De la Torre participated in the reconquest of New Granada, and he led a royalist army into the Colombian and Venezuelan plains, where he led the royalists down the Orinoco as they fought their way to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1820, the Trienio Liberal government of Spain appointed him Captain-General of Venezuela, and he signed a treaty with Simon Bolivar regulating the rules of engagement and signing a six-month truce. After Pablo Morillo's departure from Venezuela, he became the new head of the royalist armies there, and his 1821 defeat at the Battle of Carabobo effectively ended Spanish control over New Granada. He was replaced the next year, and he served as governor of Puerto Rico until 1837, where he entertained the population to decrease the chances of a revolution, and supported the few royalist guerrilla bands remaining in Venezuela. He retired in 1837 and died in Madrid in 1843.